National park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

s in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

were defined in the 1960s as areas of at least 10 km² consisting of natural terrains, water and/or forests, with a special landscape and flora and fauna. The first two national parks were founded in the 1930s by private organisations. The first official national park, Schiermonnikoog National Park, was not established until 1989. The most recent national park to have been established is the

Nieuw Land National Park Nieuw Land National Park (''New Land National Park''; Dutch: ''Nationaal Park Nieuw Land'') is a national park in the Dutch province of Flevoland. It was established on October 1, 2018, when Minister Carola Schouten visited the province to mak ...

, which was established in 2018. In 2011, the government decided to make the provinces responsible for the national parks. As of 2021, there are 21 national parks.

National parks

Footnotes

External links

National Parks in the Netherlands
(in Dutch) {{Europe in topic, List of national parks of, countries_only=yes

National parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...